Eddplant - Confidence Tricks album review

By Max Barsby: Confidence Tricks is the debut album of twenty-three-year-old Londoner Ed Blann. Blann, who is known more commonly by his Youtube username and stage name, Eddplant gained his following through Youtube and currently has over 35,000 subscribers.
His debut album has been released through the independent record label DFTBA Records, a record label created solely for Youtube musicians to distribute music to their fanbase.
The album starts off with fan favourite Girl Can’t Dance, an acoustic version of which was debuted on his Youtube channel back in December of 2008. It is a brilliant pop-punk style song with a comedic twist and is a brilliant way to open the album.
The second track, Hum the Tune is much more mellow and is lyrically brilliant and puts one in mind of Oasis. The chorus is incredibly catchy and even at first listen you’ll be singing along.
The third track, What’s it Like while not one of the strongest tracks on the album is still a powerful indie song and once again has a great, catchy chorus.
Less Than Three, the forth track on the album was debuted on Eddplant’s Youtube channel late last year. This track is a more poppy tune and fitting with this is a lot of fun and is also one of the best on the album.
The album mellows out again with the fifth track, Walking Away. This is a powerful track with brilliant lyrics and is delivered passionately by Eddplant who shows his full vocal ability.
Starting with heavy bass, track six Untitled (Can’t Find the Words) makes you instantly think of a metal song and its delivers jumping into rolling guitars. As the vocals come in the song mellows, but as is goes on it builds up before turning heavy again with Eddplant yelling the lyrics toward the end, before ending abruptly and quietly.
Track seven, Night Train is another poppy tune lead by an acoustic guitar. It’s a happy love song and once again Eddplant’s brilliant lyrical ability is shown off. This is a catchy song and another of the best tracks on the album.
Track eight, Butterfly in the Breeze is a beautiful balled with piano and accordion provided by Eddplant’s friend, fellow youtuber and producer Tom Milsom. This is the best track musically and probably the best on the album as a whole.
Frozen Snow, the ninth track is reminiscent in its lyrical construction of R.E.M’s Nightswimming, which makes for a brilliant song. My only criticism is that the vocals seem a little nasal.
Track ten, Too Late Now is also quite poppy in feel, but its lyrics are deeper than your typical pop song. It is musically different with the use of accordion and distinct electric guitar.
The last track on the album, We Parted is a passionate acoustic song and is like a session recording and is a great way to finish the album.
Confidence Tricks is probably one of the best albums to come out of DFTBA Records and is a brilliant debut. Although on the face of it this is an indie music album, it brings the genre rare innovation, which for an artist at the start of his musical career is commendable.

Confidence Tricks can be bought on www.dftba.com and is also available for download on itunes and amazon.

Check out more of Eddplant on his Youtube Channel and Website.